Before He Cheats
by play for keeps
Summary: Gwen and Duncan have been going out for 5 years after World Tour. When Gwen finds out Duncan's cheating on her, Leshawna helps her deal with her emotions in a very...uh, creative way. Inspired by Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"


**Inspired by Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats." Just listen to the song when you read :)**

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It was 10 pm on Friday night, and Gwen couldn't have been more bored in her townhouse. Leshawna invited her to go to a club but Gwen hated dancing—and also didn't want to see Leshawna "break it down and move it all around." Bridgette's grandmother was in the hospital so she was busy, and Duncan left to have his usual guy's night with Geoff, DJ, and Owen. So Gwen was forced to watch Paranormal Activity 4 in her living room because she needed a good laugh and didn't want to feel more pitiful than she already was.

"Ugh, I can't take this anymore," Gwen groaned, throwing the blanket off of her from the couch and walking towards the kitchen to make spaghetti. She grabbed the box of spaghetti in the cabinet over the microwave, retrieved a pot from the lower cabinet, filled it half-way with water, and placed it on the stove to boil. The background noise of the TV and the clock's faint ticking in the kitchen reminded Gwen of how alone she was without Duncan. She put on a happy face when he left at 8, but inside she felt uneasy. His warm smile, his playful eyes, and his "See ya later, Sunshine," did little to comfort her as he walked out the door.

Where had they gone wrong?

After world Tour Ended, Gwen and Duncan bought their insanely cheap townhouse together after practically saving every penny they had. Gwen went to art school for 4 years and Duncan became a tattoo artist. Once she graduated, Gwen started teaching drawing lessons at a local art studio to middle schoolers. They both were making a decent living and Gwen couldn't have been happier. 5 years and counting, she had proven everyone wrong about her and Duncan lasting (by everyone she meant Courtney, not to mention a few people from that horrible reality show). She and Duncan loved each other and it showed—he supported her through school, planned fun dates for them, and still made her laugh harder than anyone she knew. In turn, she was beside him when he had a falling out with his dad, drew some of his tattoo designs for his customers, and made him smile on bad days. He was her best friend and lover; everything she always wanted. Things were going great—

Until Duncan got fired.

5 months ago, a Brony complained that Duncan drew his Rainbow Dash tattoo incorrectly on his face. The cutie mark wasn't defined, the eyes were too small, and the words "Rainbow Dash" underneath were squished together. But Duncan told him it would look like that since it was going to be on the die-hard's face, but he didn't care. So when he saw the final result he flipped out and flung all kinds of curse words under the sun at the former delinquent, mostly offending his mohawk. And Duncan wasn't gonna sit back like a little bitch and stand there, so he made fun of the man's mullet, yelled a string of vulgarities about his mother, and insulted the good name of _My Little Pony_. All the Brony's friends were getting tattoos too, but after they heard their holy show getting bashed by Duncan, they all jumped him. The manager finally broke up the fight, kicked the Bronies out, and told Duncan he was fired for losing customers and disrespecting a customer. At first, Duncan was pissed he lost his job. But playing videogames everyday fixed that pain, along with going to the bar almost every weekend.

Duncan jobless and Gwen_ not_ jobless caused stress between them. Paying for the house was getting hard because she was the only one paying the majority of it, instead of doing 50/50 like usual. All Duncan cared about was playing Farcry 3 in his pj's everyday. She brought up occasionally he should get a job and he kept telling her he would, but she never saw him searching for one. Then one day, Gwen had had enough.

"Duncan, you _really _need to start looking for jobs," she said in a strained voice during dinner. "I can help you if you want."

"In case you forgot Gwen, I got fired!" Duncan said harshly. "Wasn't part of the plan! I'll find one on my own damn time, so stop whining!"

"All you do is sit on your butt playing video games when I'm working! We're struggling to pay rent enough as it is! I can't take it anymore!"

"You should trust me when I say I'm gonna get another job! I don't need another Courtney telling me what to do, ok?!"

That was the one thing she never thought she'd hear. She immediately ran to their room, locked the door, and sobbed herself to sleep. Duncan was forced to sleep on the couch that night and for 2 weeks until he (very lamely) apologized at dinner and said he'd never call her that again. She said she forgave him, but being compared to Courtney was like a double slap in the face. It was a wound that would take some time. They never brought up getting a job again, and that fight was only a month ago.

Gwen looked at the boiling pot of water and dumped some spaghetti in, sighing. Maybe having some alone time was a good thing. At least it'd keep the simmering tension between her and Duncan at bay.

All of a sudden, Gwen's phone vibrated in her pocket. _Wonder who that is?_ She took out her phone and saw it was a picture message from Leshawna. The picture was a little grainy from the flashing neon green and red lights, but Gwen could see Leshawna's smiling face with her friend Jasmine drinking some type of drink with pink umbrellas. "_Wish you were here girl!_" said the caption.

Gwen chuckled but then peered at the picture closely.

"Is that _Duncan?!_" she said, half-bewildered, half-dubious. The picture was dark, but behind Leshawna and Jasmine was a green mohawk she knew all too well shining in the light, caught in the motion of walking.

_What the hell is Duncan doing there?_ Gwen typed furiously to Leshawna, shaking all over. Duncan said he was hanging out with the guys—he always did every Friday night, and Gwen knew they never went to clubs.

Leshawna replied back instantly: _Oh shit, girl, it is him! Didn't you say he was with Geoff, DJ, and Owen?_

Gwen's hands were on fire as she texted back. _Yeah but I wanna know why he lied? What's he doing?_

A picture message immediately popped up and Gwen wasn't sure if she was gonna like it. Hesitantly, she clicked it and all she could do was stare with a blank expression.

Leshawna sent a picture of Duncan. Making out with a blonde. Groping her butt. The girl pushing her boobs into him.

Gwen wanted to do a couple of things right then and there—smash her phone on the floor; punch Duncan if he was there; vomit in the kitchen sink.

But instead she made her way to the living room and cried her eyes out on the couch.

She heaved, she sobbed, she bawled, she hiccupped, sniffled, calmed down for a couple of seconds, and then repeated the cycle. Her phone was buzzing in her hands—most likely Leshawna but she didn't care.

How could he do this? 5 years well spent until he lost his job and now this? It was astounding how many tears her body was able to produce because she kept crying and crying and crying. She clutched the blue blanket and buried her face into it, moaning. She wouldn't blame their recent fight, but that's all she could think of. She knew she shouldn't blame herself, but maybe she shouldn't have pressured him to get a job so soon. Maybe he was going through depression.

No, that was a lame-ass excuse. She didn't want to feel like she deserved this, but deep down inside she felt this was karma's way of punishing her for kissing Duncan in World Tour. Make her happy for so long only to push her down when she least expected it.

Somewhere in the universe, Courtney was celebrating by lightning a cardboard Gwen and Duncan on fire.

Gwen didn't know what her next step was—her head was spinning, her heart felt as heavy as a gigantic water balloon, and memories of her and Duncan entered her head without warning. Their secret kiss in the confessional; bonding while on the same team in TDA; going to Hershey Park and screaming on the roller coasters; seeing Gothic Mind Explosion last summer; having a very sappy anniversary dinner at _Maggiano's_, courtesy of Duncan. And now those memories would leave a bitter aftertaste.

Her phone vibrated for the 3rd time and Gwen, trying to stifle her hiccups, answered with a choked "Hey—"

"Gwen, are you ok?!" Leshawna quickly asked, obviously worried. The base from the club was almost drowning her out. "I could come over, or beat that punk ass bitch up—"

"No, don't do that," Gwen weakly said, taking a shaky breath and wiping the rolling tears from her cheeks. "You're gonna get kicked out if you fight him. And plus, once he sees you, he'll know you'll tell me. I wanna confront him myself."

"But—"

"I'll—be ok," Gwen tried to reassure Leshawna—and herself—but her voice broke at the end.

Leshawna's voice on the other end got miraculously clearer. "You know what, I got a better idea. We're smashing Duncan's car!"

"WHAT?!"

"He's not cheating on you and getting away with it! Oh no, we're getting him back! Shawnie style!"

"Uh, that's kind of illegal," Gwen said, raising her eyebrows. "If we get caught, we could get fined or put in jail. I'm not having that on my record!"

"So you're tellin' me you're letting him get away with this? Nuh-uh, not on my watch! We're doing this! If you don't wanna do it then I'll do it for you!"

Gwen sighed heavily. Getting caught was too risky and would bite her in the butt. And would she really go that far to get back at a boyfriend? So Duncan laughs in her face while she's in jail for wrecking his car and he gets away with cheating—she'd be the only one getting a consequence! But suppose she did hit his car? Give him the same pain he gave her? The damage wouldn't be equal to her heartache, but it would temporarily lessen the pain. She was that emotionally unstable for the plan to start sounding like a good idea…

"Fine, but only if we do it where no one sees us," Gwen decided.

"Oooh, we taking that punk down tonight!" Leshawna cheered. "I know this abandoned baseball field we can take his car. We're at_ Roxxy's_ so I'll meet you outside. And bring some gloves!"

Gwen shook her head as Leshawna hung up on her. What was she getting herself into?

She got up from the couch and turned off the boiling pot of spaghetti which was now overcooked. She then grabbed the gloves from under the sink, Duncan's extra set of car keys with her own, got in her car, and drove 20 minutes to the club. She noticed Duncan's red Honda Accord parked at a sidewalk near the club and parked 5 spaces away from him, and then walked towards Leshawna standing outside the club's entrance.

Once Leshawna saw her, she ran up to Gwen and hugged her tight. "Girl, I'm so sorry this happened to you!"

"I can't believe what a bastard he is," Gwen spat, and the two ended the hug. "After everything…_everything_…"

"And now his car's gonna get a serious butt whoopin'!" Leshawna said with glee. "Jasmine's making sure he and Lindsay don't come out and catch us."

"Lindsay?" Gwen scoffed, smacking herself on the forehead. "Really? Isn't she dating Tyler?"

"Poor thing probably got duped thinking he _is_ Tyler."

"Of course it just _had_ to be someone from Total Drama. It just had to!" Gwen's eyes clouded as her body trembled, the strands of her hair beginning to rise from anger. "So how are we smashing his car?"

They walked over to Leshawna's car and popped the trunk where there was a bat and a well-sized kitchen knife. At the sight of the objects, Gwen's body relaxed as she shook her head, laughing. "Should I even ask?"

"A sista's gotta do what a sista's gotta do," Leshawna laughed with Gwen. "You brought the gloves?"

Gwen nodded and threw Leshawna a pair of gloves. After she had them on she gave her Duncan's extra car keys. "His car's next to where I parked. Let's do this."

Leshawna squealed and the 2 girls went to their perspective cars, Leshawna driving Duncan's Honda Accord and Gwen following her in her own car so they could drive back after the deed was done. They drove to the abandoned baseball field and parked their cars. Leshawna exited the car, pocketed the keys, retrieved the bat from the trunk and handed Gwen the knife. The girls eyed the car with disdain as they got out. "You ready?" Leshawna asked, smirking.

There was no backing out now. She got this far, and her emotions were still out of whack. Now she was going to unleash a world of hurt and pain onto the car, and it was going to feel good.

"Oh yeah."

The cool night air thickened with electrifying-tension as Leshawna raised her bat and Gwen clutched her knife. There was a moment of silence, then—

Both girls let out a battle cry; Gwen slashed the back of the tires with brimming hot tears as Leshawna forcefully wacked the headlights out. Once the headlights were fully busted, Leshawna and Gwen exchanged weapons. Leshawna opened the driver's door and carved "ASSWIPE" in the seat while Gwen hit the taillights with her bat, the vibrations giving her body an adrenaline rush.

"Feeling better?" Leshawna laughed, slashing the front tires of the car. Gwen nodded, gripping the bat tighter and jabbing the right side of the car with the front of the bat repeatedly, making a huge dent. "Hell yes!" She went to the left side and said, "Watch out, I'm gonna break his windows!"

"Nice!" Leshawna stepped away as Gwen braced for the impact, closing her eyes.

BAM! She broke the front left window. That was for breaking her heart.

SMASH! The rear left window was for wasting 5 years with him.

THUD, THUD, THUD. She jabbed every spot on the car with intense hatred. That was because she was delirious.

Gwen handed Leshawna the bat, who shattered car's two right windows. After she was done, she stepped back panting along with Gwen, admiring their work. All the windows were broken, both sides were dented with many holes, the tires flat, the inside slashed and ripped with stuffing coming out the seats, and the outside was a mixture of white and red from keying. Gwen used her key and crudely drew a picture of a donkey on the driver's side because that was what Duncan was. And through it all, Gwen felt happier as she laughed like a psycho in the midst of hot tears and a battered heart.

"We did it," she breathed, admiring their work.

"Sure did," Leshawna said. "C'mon, let's go back to my apartment. You can stay over for the night, in case that asshole goes back to yours."

They drove back to the club in Gwen's car, crazily laughing the whole way back. They picked up Jasmine because she was also spending the night. At the apartment, Leshawna and Jasmine consoled Gwen, gossiped, and watched 21 Jump Street, suggested by Jasmine. After the movie was over, it was time to go to bed. Before Gwen fell asleep on the couch, all she could think of was how tomorrow would be better as she snuggled under the blankets.

The next morning, Jasmine said bye to the girls since she had errands to run. Leshawna and Gwen drove to the townhouse to move out Gwen's stuff, since Leshawna offered Gwen to live with her for a while. Gwen was still heartbroken, but now she was also pissed because once they got to her house, they realized Duncan hadn't come home yet—he was nowhere to be found, and it was 9 am. He didn't even have the decency to call her saying he would be late getting back home, since he thought Gwen was still at their house.

In about 2 hours, Gwen packed all her belongings in multiple suitcases and bags into Leshawna's trunk. Leshawna was still in the house, going to the bathroom. As Gwen leaned on the trunk, waiting patiently, she saw Duncan strolling on the sidewalk to their house, still in his walk of shame clothes. Gwen's blood boiled as he came closer with that usual smirk of his that now repulsed her, and looked at him stone-faced. Duncan realized he wasn't getting a warm welcome and stopped in his tracks, a foot away from her.

"Hey, Pasty," he started, his eyes a bit fidgety. "Things got out of control, but—"

"You could've at least called to say you'd be coming home late," Gwen said coldly. Keeping her cool was not working like planned. "Why are you coming back now at 11 in the morning?"

Duncan laughed nervously, putting his arm behind his head. "Funny story, actually. My car got stolen—"

"Aww, really?" Gwen said with insincere sympathy, pouting. "That sucks! Why would anyone do that?"

"Beats me," he shrugged. "I got a call from the police not too long ago saying they ID'd my car at an old baseball field. The windows are smashed and everything…dammit, I bet it was those Bronies!"

"Sooo, why didn't you call and tell me?" Gwen pressed, annoyed.

"Oh, my phone died, so I spent the night at Geoff's."

"So couldn't you have used his phone instead? Or DJ's? Or Owen's? Or do the logical thing like get a ride from Geoff?" Gwen glared at Duncan and crossed her arms while he rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't thinking, ok?" He attempted to hug her but Gwen stepped back, to Duncan's confusion. He noticed Leshawna's car and frowned. "Leshawna's here?"

As if on cue, Leshawna came out, wiping her hands on her jeans and scowling at Duncan. "If it isn't the bastard himself. C'mon Gwen, let's go."

"What the hell was that?" Duncan fumed, his body on edge as Leshawna gave him a dirty look, flipped him the bird, and got in the driver's seat. "What the hell's her problem?"

Gwen shrugged and made her way to the passenger's side. Duncan furrowed his eyebrows. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Gwen said scornfully, turning around, "to a club to make out with Lindsay!" She left Duncan temporarily stunned as she got in the car and slammed the door. Duncan rushed up to her side and started banging on the window, but all Gwen could do was stare straight ahead, holding back angry tears.

"Gwen! Open up! Gwen!"

"Don't listen to him. Let's go," Leshawna said, shaking her head in disgust at Duncan's pleading face.

"Wait, I wanna say one more thing." Gwen rolled down the window and bored her eyes into Duncan's furious blue ones.

"I didn't do it!" he blurted, searching her face to believe him. Then he glared at Leshawna. "Did Miss Ratchet over there tell you? You know she's wanted to rip out my guts from the start! I don't know what you've heard—"

"Don't lie to me," Gwen said nastily. "I'm done with your laziness and your stupid excuses! I've already packed, so don't bother."

"I'm telling you it's not true—"

"It's _over_. By the way, I _really_ like that donkey on your car—it looks a lot like you."

"I never said—" Just then realization hit him and he looked at Gwen with pure loathing, the heat rising to his face.

"You b—"

Leshawna slammed her foot on the accelerator, speeding away from the temper tantrum Duncan who was cursing up a storm. The two girls snickered and high-fived each other as they sped away. Gwen left Duncan. She left Duncan. She _left_ _Duncan!_ It was weird and relieving at the same time.

Gwen knew this smashing-car-high would only be temporary. She'd question if she did the right thing by destroying his car. She knew she would be crying for months, maybe a year, because she ended a 5 year relationship. A relationship with someone she loved and thought she could trust.

As the wind blew in her black and teal hair, she let the silent hot tears roll down her face. But she was smiling. She would worry about the future later. Right now, all she knew was she felt on top of the world and deserved way better.

Yeah. Way better.

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**So I got some heat about putting the song lyrics in my story, and since I don't want my account deleted, I took them out and made a few minor changes. But, aww poor Gwen! Or poor Duncan? :P Sucks to be him, though, that two-timing cheater haha. Anyway, I love both characters but I'm getting to that point with Total Drama where anything I listen to I'm like 'that sounds like a good story idea!' Thanks for reading! :) Review if you like!**


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